“95” Dually tire replace

[panran]

Hello, friends…I looked it up and have questions AI mentioned they will work but might need spacers…I’m ready to get new tires on my tundra and my old ones have about 1/2 life still left and they are the best tires I’ve ever bought. My 95 dually has 225/75/16 but they look like they could use better tires, they look like hard rubber. My tundra has 265/70/16 Pirelli scorpion tires so I’m keeping them and when the truck is road ready I would like to use them. Not planning on using it to tow, just using it as a ranch truck, but just in case should I go with spacers and what size? I’ll post a pic of existing tires. Thanks panran

 

[JayTheCPA]

I am not quite following.

Is the question about moving all four of the Tundra's 265 width tires to the '95 dually's rear axle? Or...???

And about the spacers: where exactly? If the though is to put spacers between the two rear wheels in order to fit wider tires, am not sure I'd go there, but that is me.

 

[panran]

Yeah I was going to put them on the rear but didn’t want to put spacers…the ones that are on there look super hard rubber and if you need to brake hard they would probably just slide. I don’t usually use A I but it suggested that they would fit but might need spacers.

 

[dbrannon79]

taking the wider tires for the dually will fit, but spacers might be needed for the rears. the main thing is you don't want the side walls to be able to touch when the truck is loaded. just simply mounted with the truck's weight is not enough to judge if they will be ok or not. also if one tire goes low on air they still shouldn't be touching. the other issue is what the weight rating is for the tires. most light weight trucks like your Tundra will have light duty tires which will have the side walls squish and bulge more loaded. that alone could be the deal breaker. Most dually tires have a stiff multi-ply sidewall so they don't bulge under load.

spacers can also send you into dangerous territory as the wheel studs aren't designed to carry the side load. the centering hub is what carries the side load. having a spacer puts the wheel further out on the studs which also weakens that area too even if they have a centering hub on them. for a dually I wouldn't go further than maybe 1/4" max.

I ran some light duty tires on my 93 1 ton (Single wheels) for a while but they were only rated for about 2000lb each and that truck weighs right at 8500lbs empty! I knew I couldn't carry anything in it or pull a trailer with it using those tires, just used them to roll it around town! Although it rode like a luxury car from the squish on the tires! you need at min 10 ply tires for a dually!

 

[JayTheCPA]

spacers can also send you into dangerous territory as the wheel studs aren't designed to carry the side load.

^^^ This.

With the stated use of just "... a ranch truck ..." might work with using spacers for running wide treads, but the question is: why? Risk is messing up a wheel (maybe two) and possibly the hub just to save a few bucks. Oh, and the correct type of spacers are not inexpensive, so this eats into the "savings" of running the Tundra's tires.

Next question is the age of tires. If they are over 5 years old, it is time for the landfill. Can possibly stretch that age to 7 if the vehicle is getting regular use and not sitting. Sure, I have seen people run tires that are 10, maybe 20, years old. I actually know somebody who is still letting the vehicle sit on ~30 year old tires. But I would not go any faster on these old time bombs than the speed at which I want one to fail. Again, this is just me.

I do agree on skepticism with trusting any advice from AI. Lets just go with that I have enough experience in that landscape to know that it has its strengths, and its weaknesses. And relying on AI for judgement calls is not its strength. Use it as a starting point, but always verify

 

[panran]

Well said gentleman. I thank you for sharing your knowledge. I’ll just scrap that idea and deal with it when I get road ready.